How many would fit?

[cms1113]

We got a play house that is about 12 sq ft, and then my husband is going to put it on stilts and have a run that goes under the house out to the front which is 39inx69in. How many hens would this fit, keep in mind there is no need to allow space for nesting boxes since they will be outside the house.

 

[Master S.M.C]

Maybe 6-8 hens.

 

[B. Saffles Farms]

The play house will fit 3 comfortably, and possibly 4 derpending on climate. Your run is gonna be just over 18 and half sq ft. with 3 hens that be barely over 6 sq ft per bird. So I woulndt go with more than 3.

 

[patandchickens]

12 sq ft indoors plus 30 sq ft outdoors (assuming the numbers you quote are for the part of the run that's in addition to the underneath part) isn't much space at all, unfortunately.

Personally I would not put more than three, maybe four chickens at the most in there.

If you had six, that would be only 2 sq ft indoors plus 5 outdoors, per hen. Really tight.

Basically it depends how interested you are in seeing what you can get away with for how long, versus how much you want to err on the side of giving the birds more room to be happy and comfortable in.

JMHO,

Pat

 

[cms1113]

Can different breeds of chickens live together? Like if i had Rhode Island reds with with bantams?

 

[B. Saffles Farms]

Quote:
Yes they can.

 

[cms1113]

Quote:
Yes they can.

So would space needed change any? Say if i had 2 Rhode Island reds and 1 or 2 bantams would that still be too many?

 

[conny63malies]

Quote:
Yes they can.

So would space needed change any? Say if i had 2 Rhode Island reds and 1 or 2 bantams would that still be too many?

YOu would be ok. Figure 2sqf per banty that would leave you with 8sqf for 2 RIRs . Thats okay.Runspace would be okay too 10sqf per big bird and 5 sqf per banty.

 

[B. Saffles Farms]

Yeah you could go with 2 RIRs and 2 bantams. Bantams (for a rule of thumb) usually need about half of the space of Large Fowl. Like conny said.

 

[cms1113]

Quote:
OK, good! My hens are actually Red Stars, i thought they were RIRs but they aren't. But im going to get a few bantam eggs and see what happens! I wanted my husband to build a larger coop but he said, we'll stick to what we have for now and then we can add on later